​​​​​​​​​​​BRUSSELS, 7 March 2016 – The 2016 Financial History Workshop will be held on Friday, 27 May 2016 in Brussels. This year’s workshop is designed to provide a forum for extensive discussion on new and innovative research covering the history of savings and retail banks as well as savings in general.

Delving into three main topics, the event kicks off with a look at the impact made by monetary and fiscal policies in periods of recession. The one-day event will also explore why people still save during periods of low or negative interest rates. The event closes with a look back in history to how savings and retail banks behaved when faced with low interest rates similar to what they face today.

The speaker line-up has an international accent, with Dr. Pui-Tak Lee, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Business & Economics of the University of Hong-Kong, presenting his paper on China's savings business in the 1930s and the savings bank and saving society in Shanghai during that time. Dr. Garrick Hileman, senior research associate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and researcher at the Centre for Macroeconomics, will share his research on monetary and financial innovation to government organizations. Academics, professionals and other interested people are invited to submit papers for the workshop or attend the meeting. Attendance is free of charge.